María Esther Ballivián

María Esther Ballivián Iturralde (13 June 1927 – 23 June 1977) was a Bolivian painter, engraver, and teacher. She is considered one of the leading Bolivian fine artists of the 20th century.^[1]

María Esther Ballivián was born in La Paz, Bolivia on 13 June 1927, to Rafael Ballivián and Rosa Iturralde.^{[2] [3]} Her paternal grandmother was Elisa Rocha de Ballivián, the first prominent female Bolivian fine artist^[4] and founder of the first painting school in La Paz in 1905.^[5] Ballivián was the great-granddaughter of painter Zenón Iturralde.^[6]

From 1945 to 1950 Ballivián was a student of Lithuanian painter Juan Rimsa  [es].^[3] She attended the Academies of Fine Arts in La Paz and Lima.^[3] In 1950 Ballivián married the architect Luis Perrín Pando, but unusually for the time she did not take his name.^[3] Also in 1950 the first exhibition of her work was held in La Paz.^[6] Following the outbreak of the 1952 Bolivian National Revolution, Ballivián moved to Chile; there she studied printmaking with Nemesio Antúnez.^{[3] [7]} In March 1953 Ballivián's work was shown as part of the first exhibition of abstract art in Bolivia, entitled "Eight Contemporary Painters" (Spanish: Ocho pintores contemporáneos), alongside María Luisa Pacheco, Armando Pacheco  [d], and five other Bolivian artists.^[1]

Ballivián lived in Paris in 1957–60 and again in 1963–64.^[8] While in Paris she studied at Stanley William Hayter's Atelier 17.^[7] She also studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, where she met Henri Goetz, in whose studio she later worked.^[7]

In 1964 Ballivián returned to Bolivia.^[3] There she worked as a teacher at the Hernando Siles National Academy of Fine Arts  [es] in La Paz, where her students included Ángeles Fabbri  [es], Roxana Crespo, and Carmen Bilbao.^[3] Ballivián also started drawing and painting female nudes, work for which she is particularly remembered.^{[7] [8]}

Ballivián died on 23 July 1977 after being accidentally electrocuted in the bath.^[3]

• Award of the Hispano-American Women's Engraving and Drawing Competition (Spanish: Concurso Hispanoamericano Femenino de Grabado y Dibujo), La Paz, 1956.
• First prize in engraving at the 1960 competition of the Salón Pedro Domingo Murillo  [es] with the work "Bajo relieve".
• First prize in engraving at the IV Salón de Arte in 1961, organised by the Bolivian Ministry of Education, with the work "Trópico".
• Grand Prize in painting, 1965 at the Salón Pedro Domingo Murillo with the work "Naturaleza muerta".
• Grand Prize at the Technical University of Oruro, 1974.^[6]

• 1927 births
• 1977 deaths
• 20th-century Bolivian women artists
• People from La Paz
• Accidental deaths by electrocution
• 20th-century Bolivian painters
• Bolivian women painters
• 20th-century women painters

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